Obviously, there are inherent pressures on golf coming from the world around – the acreage
required to provide the playing field, the increasing poverty of the middle class, the youthful expansion
of indoor games (thanks to “Wi” and video games), the growing distance between the masses and
the playing fields.

One thing comes to mind – when I worked at Jacob Riis Park, we had a 9-hole, Pitch and Putt course.
Full-sized greens and approaches ranging from 50 yards to about 120 yards. Lots of base amateurs enjoyed
the challenge without the walking distances and time required by “real golf”. Nothing separates the real golfer
from the hack more than the driver and the distances that require it.

Can learn the long game pretty well on a driving range where you can hit basketsfull in minutes. But, PitchPutt is best way to
learn the short game.

Maybe “the industry” should be working on developing “club rental” pitch and putt courses near urban centers, etc.
Schools could have their tournaments on them, as could many golf “groups”.

Once skilled at Pitch Putt – it would seem people would want to move on up to the long game.

This would seem to be an area for investors building the appeal to franchisees, etc.

Jack Byrne is a retired advertising executive whose agency, Jack Byrne Advertising, won the national print, radio, and TV Clio Awards for its work on the Barney's Men's Store account in the early 1970s. He invented the eyewear superstore concept, starting with Eyelab, which was the impetus for LensCrafters. He also owned the 'world's largest' eyewear store, called Manhattan Eyeland, in New York City. Byrne would later head up Vision Express, in the former Soviet Union, opening 200 eyewear superstores for the former executive management of Lens Crafters.